Ginny in Neverland
by addicted fan
Summary: Written for SIYE's Peter Pan Challenge, Ginny dreaming in the Room of Requirement dreams herself into Neverland.  Is this what she really wants? Obviously nothing is mine it belongs to Rowling and Barrie and I borrowed JennyKate75's Daydream charm.


An exhausted and grumpy Ginny Weasley could wreak havoc in the halls of Hogwarts – so when Harry noticed that his new girlfriend (for the past two blissful weeks) seemed one revision period short of giving the entire Common Room the bat-bogey hex, he quietly steered her to the seventh floor and the Room of Requirement.

"I don't feel like spying on Malfoy, Harry," Ginny protested.

"I don't think he's in there right now. The map shows him in the Great Hall."

"Oh good. For a moment I was worried the rumors were true," Ginny teased.

"What rumors," Harry demanded.

"Nothing so macho as a hippogriff on your chest." At Harry's inquiring look she continued, "Some people think you fancy Malfoy."

"That's disgusting," Harry exclaimed trying to get the hideous image out of his head.

"I think it's just Moaning Myrtle making the most of you and Draco in the bathroom."

"I almost killed him."

"That just makes the gossip better."

They had finally managed their third circuit up and down the hallway. Harry opened the door hoping that perhaps he would be able to find out what Draco had hidden in the room and wishing he would never have to think of the Slytherin again.

The Room of Requirement refused to yield its secrets readily. Ginny, however, found herself more than satisfied with the oversized loveseat provided. As she stretched out on the cushions, Harry banished spying and secrets from his mind. Here was a chance to be alone with Ginny, something they both needed, and he would take advantage of the situation.

Sometime later Ginny reluctantly removed her hands from their resting place under Harry's shirt. Harry captured both her hands in his trying to prolong the idyll.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing really. It figures that you would finally realize I'm perfect for you during the most hectic time of my academic career." She looked down into his face and smiled. "The hell with it," she muttered before kissing him passionately.

"Oh no," Harry said. "I'm not going to let you fail your O.W.L.'s. Hermione would never forgive me."

Despite this resolution, Harry bent his head towards Ginny once more.

"Somehow, I don't think snogging is on the exams."

"Too bad. That would definitely be worth an E at least."

"Only an E," Ginny pouted.

"Too short a kiss."

"I see. Well I might be able to do something about that. But first, I really should study."

"Fine. I'll bring your astronomy notes and help test you."

"Some chocolate would be great too," Ginny called after Harry's retreating figure.

Ginny settled more deeply into the chair. It was stupid and probably selfish of her but she wished these moments might last forever. She had longed for Harry seemingly forever – since she was ten years old at any rate. Unfortunately, what with Harry's detentions and Hermione watching over her revision schedule moments alone together were brief and perhaps all the more heady for their rarity.

And she was so tired. Ginny snuggled back into the cushions of the loveseat. Something hard and book-shaped pressed against the back of her head. Ginny raised her hand to throw whatever it was to the far corner of the room. Her hand dropped. She was so tired. Where was Harry? Ginny closed her eyes and dreamed of flying.

She was soaring above the Hogwarts lake, above what looked like Durmstrang's ship. Ginny knew she had to be dreaming. For one thing, she was flying without her broom. At least she hoped she was dreaming. Wandering about in her nightdress brought back worries about first year.

Suddenly something nearly as hard as a bludger hit her and she dropped, falling heavily to the ground.

Oof.

"We shot the Wendy-bird," chortled a child who looked too young to even be a first year.

A musical shower of bells caught her attention and she turned to see a tiny version of Romilda Vane shimmying in the tightest dress robes ever seen on a – were those wings?

What was going on?

Ginny looked around wildly realizing she was no longer at Hogwarts.

"This is a dream," she told herself resolutely all the while wondering if maybe Malfoy had managed to hex the room to send her into this crazy mixed-up world. "No," she told herself firmly, "Malfoy's not that smart. This must be a dream."

Hermione, if she were there, might have told Ginny that even dreams have their traps and dangers. Dream magic is nearly as old as human existence. But Ginny, who had grown up on tales of Beedle the Bard yet still managed to write in an enchanted diary, saw freedom in this fantasy.

"Peter. Peter," called one of the Lost Boys who reminded her of Colin Creevey.

Ginny turned to see Harry.

"Oh the cleverness of me," crowed a thin dark haired boy with messy hair and a scar on his forehead. "I've brought a Wendy to Neverland to act as our mother and to tell stories."

Meanwhile, Harry, hurrying back to the Room of Requirement saw Ginny stretched out on the sofa. The urge to tickle her awake warred with his desire not to be the next recipient of the bat-bogey hex or any other spell in Ginny's repertoire. He reached down to touch her. Ginny did not stir. For a brief moment, Harry had a horrible flashback to his second year. Why wouldn't she wake up? Heart pounding in his chest, Harry went for the person he trusted most to know the answers – Hermione.

Ginny would have liked a few answers herself.

"What is Neverland," she asked feeling foolish.

"It's past the second star on the right…" started a young red headed boy.

"And straight on 'til morning," his identical twin finished.

"And here you never have to grow up, or work, or wear a tie."

"Or fight Voldemort," Ginny thought to herself. She looked around her at the sparkling unreal blue of the sky and the deep turquoise of the water in the distance. Perhaps, dreaming of Neverland would be a nice change.

For one Gryffindor the day was turning into a nightmare. Harry ran all the way into the common room, shut Hermione's Ancient Runes textbook closed and pulled her out of her chair all before Hermione could tut or Ron, copying out the last bit of his Transfiguration essay from Hermione's notes, could manage an annoyed "Oi!"

"Ginny…Room of Requirement… spell," Harry panted. That was all he needed to say.

Ginny tried to tell herself to stop smiling, but it was no use. Neverland was a perfect place – she might stay forever. Ginny settled herself on a mat of flowers and leaves and reveled in the unfamiliar situation. In the short time they had been dating, Ginny had not quite gotten used to the wonderful feeling of Harry's attention on her. Even so, at Hogwarts she had to share him with her brother and Hermione and his private meetings with Dumbledore and oh it seemed too many others. In Neverland, it seemed, she, as Wendy, was an important part of Harry's world. She smiled as she waited while Harry told them in a voice filled with a boyish energy and a carefree quality it had never held in the real world, that it was time for Mother Wendy to tell stories.

The sparkle dimmed a bit in her eyes as she registered his words. She knew in a vague sort of way that Lily Evans had had red air but… Ginny refused to think about that.

"Oh Harry," she answered. For the first time she saw Neverland as a place she might never want to spend time in. She would have to search for a spell to bring them back.

"That's Peter to you, Wendy," the boy said joyously. A bit of her heart broke seeing a Harry so different, so selfish, and yet so free and supremely happy. How could she bring him back to her world, to the other life where they meant so much to each other, when it would mean seeing pain and regret in his eyes once again?

"I do know a few stories, Peter."

"With sword fights and pirates?"

"With one special sword at any rate - and a giant basilisk. "

And the Lost Boys, with the boy Ginny thought of as Harry Peter amongst them, gathered round while Ginny made a story from her own personal nightmare. Afterwards, she felt surprisingly better for telling it.

"And now we shall hunt pirates," announced Harry Peter.

"I'll go with you," Ginny called gleefully, tired of stories and ready to prove she could match any boy in action.

In the Room of Requirement, Harry would have given anything to act immediately. Both Ron and Harry looked to Hermione for answers. Hermione, being Hermione noticed the book right away.

"It's Peter Pan." She announced excitedly.

"Peter who," Ron asked while Harry tried hard to remember a theatre troupe's performance in the Little Whinging Folk Club when he was a child.

Hermione moved to open the book. The illustrations had changed to show Ginny in a nightgown with a bow tying up her now ringletted hair.

If Hermione had ever imagined Ginny as a character in Neverland, she might have picked Tiger Lily. The Indian Princess seemed an active sort. Or maybe, the easily riled but loyal red-head would have wanted to be Tinker Bell, to drink poison for the boy she adored and to save him. If anyone was the mothering type, Hermione would have irritatedly classified it as herself. What else had she been doing for the past six years if not looking after her lost boys? But it seemed that in this dream Ginny was Wendy and the eternal Pan was not Ginny's clueless brother, Ron, but Harry – and that of course explained Ginny's role. If Harry was Peter in this dream – then of course Ginny would want to be, need to be, Wendy. Hermione wondered how Ginny would react when she saw that the book Harry no longer looked at Ginny with hunger in his green eyes.

At the moment, Ginny was aching to have her wand. All her life she tried to act tough- not to be left behind. Tramping through the forest hunting for Indians was fine. The exercise held almost as much appeal as a Quidditch game. However, life in the Indian camp, being ordered about by the squaws, reminded Ginny too much of summers at the Burrow under her mother's thumb. Worse yet, Harry Peter seemed not to care.

He didn't look at her in the same way. She was a companion, a mother, a storyteller, and a drudge, but not a girlfriend in Neverland. This wasn't her Harry and she didn't want to stay here and how much more of this would she have to take?

How much longer would he have to stand here unable to do anything? Harry stared at the picture of Ginny.

"That is just so wrong," Ron muttered shaking his head.

"How do we get her out of there?"

"I'm not sure we can do anything," Hermione whispered. "We should ask Dumbledore."

She turned to nudge Harry but his attention was riveted on the page before him. His eyes burned partly with jealousy and partly with longing.

"Is that the thimble scene?" she asked.

"Peter," Ginny called to the boy. In her mind now he was definitely Peter. If Harry had ever returned to treating her with this type of indifference, her heart might break. "Peter, I need to go."

"Go where, Wendy," Peter asked. "Do you want to see the Mermaid Lagoon?"

Thoughts of the Merfolk from the tri-wizard tournament caused Ginny to shudder. "No thank you, Peter."

"But what then,Wendy? Aren't you having any fun?"

"No, I am not," shouted Ginny. She didn't want to take her anger out on this poor dream Harry or Peter or whoever he was. She tried to explain more calmly. "You haven't given me a bit of your attention or your consideration. You haven't even given me a thimble…" Ginny broke off as she said it. She didn't know what had prompted her to say those words. How could a girl be bespelled by two books in one lifetime? The injustice of it nearly set her off again.

"What's a thimble?"

Ginny looked at this Harry's innocent eyes and couldn't help herself. She didn't want to help herself. She wanted to see his need for her. She leaned closer.

Back in the Room of Requirement, Harry watched as Ginny kissed this doppelganger. Harry knew nothing of thimbles. He didn't care that the kiss was relatively chaste, a mere pressing of lips against each other. The beast in his chest growled. "I'm going in that book and getting Ginny back."

She wanted her Harry back but this wasn't working. It felt wrong. Ginny stopped the kiss almost immediately. This was not her Harry and snogging him would not make him so.

"I'm sorry," Ginny apologized.

Harry Peter looked at her curiously. "If you're going to start acting like Tink."

Ginny had had enough. She shoved Harry Peter in the chest and stalked off.

Right after she left, the Pirates descended.

A few minutes later, but time runs differently in Neverland, Harry, Ron, and Hermione landed somewhere near the tree house.

"I don't understand how going into the spell will help."

"If you didn't think it was the right thing to do, why did you come," Harry retorted.

"I'm the only one who has read Peter Pan and seen the play and the musical and the movies."

"At least we're not stuck in Hogwarts A History," Ron joked.

"I hope Dobby remembers to have the alarm clock ring in twenty minutes. I don't want to miss Arithmancy."

"At any rate, he can grab Dumbledore and Madam Pomfrey if this doesn't work," Ron said. His stomach growled. "And I hope that Kreacher hasn't done anything to the bag of chocolate frogs you brought."

"Those are for Ginny," Harry protested.

"So where do you think Ginny is," Harry asked Hermione. "You don't think the pirates grabbed her?"

Hermione turned red. Being inside the pages of the book was very similar to being in one of the Daydream charms. Not that she would ever tell Ron about the times she had imagined herself on a pirate ship and Ron as her rescuer. Still, if Ginny had been captured by Captain Hook, Ginny was in more danger than daydream Hermione whose greatest peril was how far the dream would go after being rescued in a low cut bodice by a gaping pink-eared Ron.

"Hermione?"

Both boys were looking at her now. Hermione shook her head to clear it,

"In the all the versions, at one point, Wendy is kidnapped by Captain Hook."

Harry's gaze turned dark. Why were those he cared about always in danger.

The only danger Ginny was in at the moment was casting an Unforgivable curse at a pixie. Unfortunately, or fortunately, she was without her wand, leaving her with no way to get rid of Romilda. Ordinarily, Ginny paid no attention whatsoever to Romilda Vane – other than making sure the dark-haired girl was well away from Harry's chest and other body parts. A Romilda who seemed part pixie, except not as blue, was not a Romilda she wanted to talk to.

"Go away," she muttered, swiping at the creature buzzing about her.

Ginny continued trudging through the forest. If she could find the right tree, and maybe the right core, or maybe she could just bang her head against the tree until she woke herself up? Would that work?

Her feet hurt and that buzzing was giving her a headache.

Ginny turned to Romilda, "Ok. What is it?"

Romilda stuck out her tongue at Ginny, muttered something about pirates and two Peters, and turned about to dart away.

"Don't you dare fly away from me," Ginny screeched and trapped the tiny girl in a hand now skilled at plucking snitches from the air.

"Harry? Is Harry in danger," Ginny demanded desperately.

Romilda waited a few moments then gave in and nodded as Ginny began shaking her.

"And they're on a pirate ship?"

Romilda nodded her head emphatically dripping pixie dust as she did so.

"Well, take me to him," Ginny demanded shaking Romilda so violently that when she released the fairy the creature spun dizzily for a few moments before speeding through the trees.

"Wait up," Ginny cried trying to think of enough happy thoughts to combine with the pixy dust and let her fly. This was harder than working on the Patronus Charm in the D.A. Her happiest thoughts were now mixed up with Harry and right now he was in danger. Dream or not, story or not, she needed to help him.

If ever there was proof that Harry was in a story instead of at Hogwarts, the scene before him removed all doubts. For one thing, he would have successfully rescued Ginny by now. Instead, he was tied up to a mast, Ron, and Hermione bound beside him. Striding about the ship, Captain Hook, who bore a decided resemblance to Professor Snape, if Professor Snape had a hook for a hand and wore an elaborately curled wig instead of his typical greasy hair, gloated in an unbearable manner. When would this end? And where was Ginny? If she was off snogging that other Harry while he suffered this indignity, well…

"Who shall walk the plank first," Captain Hook sneered baring his yellow teeth.

Hermione whispered, "I don't think this is good, Harry. I read that if you die in a dream…" She didn't finish the rest.

"I can't die," Harry thought. "Not here. Not yet. What about Voldemort? What about Ginny? And Ron and Hermione? I can't die in someone else's story being called Peter."

"Ah ha, Hook, you old wind-bag," shouted a voice from atop the crow's nest.

Harry glanced up to see his double brandishing a knife. And why did this Peter fellow wear tights? He could tell by the grin spreading across Ron's face that his mate would never let him live this down.

"So it's you, you infernal boy. You thought you would try to trick Hook. But I shall feed you to the sharks. "

"You can try," yelled the boy in green who dove at the Captain. "Take that. And that. And that."

"This is better than the play," said Hermione.

Ron stared at her. "Mental. That's what you are."

With their attention on the swordfight, it took the trio a while to realize someone was quickly and methodically severing their bonds.

"Ginny," Harry whispered.

"I didn't believe her until I saw you. I guess I'll have to believe in fairies now – what they say at any rate. What are you doing here? You are really here, aren't you?"

It was the wrong moment. The Lost Boys, whom Tinkerbell had set free battled the pirates. Hook and Peter Pan moved from deck to rigging and back again in their quest to overmatch the other. Harry knew it was not the moment to drag Ginny into his arms and kiss her. He didn't need to. Ginny saw the kiss in his eyes and at the corner of his mouth, and smiled.

She turned to her brother and Hermione, "Shall we get off this ship?"

"But what about them," Harry asked. He had never yet run from a fight.

"It's not real, Harry," Ginny said. "It's not real and I'm tired of Neverland."

As she said those words, a curious thing happened. Perhaps it was the magic inherent in dreams, perhaps it was a last lingering bit of pixie dust, or perhaps it was simply Ginny growing a little bit older, but the four teen-agers began to fade and disappear until…

They woke up in the Room of Requirement with Dobby and an incredibly loud alarm clock.

Harry and Ginny looked at each other.

"Does Harry Potter want…"

"I'm fine Dobby," Harry said, still not looking away from Ginny.

"Oi, big brother right here you know."

"Shut up, Ron," Ginny said without heat.

"If that's all the thanks I get for rescuing you…"

"Technically, Ginny rescued us," Hermione noted "Although I wonder if she would have woken up so quickly without our presence. Why we only spent twenty minutes…oh goodness, I better hurry to Arithmancy."

Hermione bustled out of the room and Ron and Harry and Ginny trailed after her.

"Neverland was pretty amazing," Ron said munching on a chocolate frog.

"You're eating my chocolate frogs," Ginny squealed.

Ron took his cue and grabbing two more frogs from the bag yelled, "Hermione's probably hungry too. I'll just catch up to her before her class starts, yeah."

Harry was happy to be alone with Ginny again. "How about we do the rest of our studying by the lake," he asked.

"I don't really feel like studying," Ginny said.

"Oh."

"The lake is a perfect spot not to study."

Harry grinned.

Five minutes after Harry and Ginny left, two little girls in pinafores gave a sign and Draco Malfoy paced the seventh floor corridor thinking intensely.

Once again in the Room of Requirement he picked up this wonderful book and settled in to dream. Here he could escape for a few minutes from Voldemort's threats and Snape's spying. He didn't have to worry about vulnerable mothers and imprisoned fathers. Here Pan was a silvered hair boy running wild amongst the trees. Evil had it's own problems and Draco had bestowed upon the alligator the name Potter. His boasting was praised, his skills unquestioned. Oh what a clever Draco he was – at least in Neverland.

And everything was all right again. With one particular happy hour down by the lake, Ginny knew Harry still wanted her. He had proven over and over again in a very satisfactory manner that he really wanted her and not just because she came with a large family. But Ginny knew, even with Harry's arms wrapped around her, she knew that this idyll was temporary. He was the hero, no matter what the story, and she by her age, by the Ministry's trace spell on underage wands, not to mention by being the girl who loved him, seemed destined to bring trouble. Ginny vowed that she wouldn't add to Harry's problems. She wanted to fight. Her time in Neverland showed how much. Still, if, when Harry broke up with her to go on his quest, she would let him go. But she would be damned if she let him forget about her. She would impress herself upon his memory, so that for the rest of his life, Harry's green eyes would burn with desire for her. They had to grow up but she refused to give up.


End file.
